How can I programmatically change my windows domain password?

Question

In other words, how to change my password without going through the "Ctrl+Alt+Del -> Change Password" interface.

By programmatically I mean via a command-line tool, C# via a .NET library, COM-invocation via Python, ... Whatever doesn't involve any manual steps, really.

The NET USER command is ineligible, as it requires me to run with domain administrator privileges.

Answer 1

Use the DirectoryEntry class to get and update the active directory entry for the user.

http://linuxonly.nl/docs/21/43_Circumvent_password_expiry_in_Windows.html

Answer 2

Here is a modified version of the code Sjoerd provided that changes the password once rather than cycling through multiple password changes.

using System;
using System.Collections.Generic;
using System.Linq;
using System.Text;
using System.DirectoryServices;

namespace ChangePassword
{
    class Program
    {
        static void Main(string[] args)
        {
            string Domain = Environment.UserDomainName;
            string User = Environment.UserName;

            if (args.Length < 2)
            {
                System.Console.WriteLine("Usage: ChangePassword OldPassword NewPassword [User]");
                System.Console.WriteLine("       -The domain is " + Domain + ".");
                System.Console.WriteLine("       -The user is " + User + " unless it is specified.");
                System.Environment.Exit(1);
            }
            string OldPassword = args[0];
            string NewPassword = args[1];
            if (args.Length == 3)
                User = args[2];

            DirectoryEntry entry = null;
            try {
                entry = new DirectoryEntry(@"WinNT://" + Domain + "/" + User + ",User");
            }
            catch (System.Reflection.TargetInvocationException e)
            {
                System.Console.WriteLine("Domain/User failed due to:");
                Exception cause = e.InnerException;
                System.Console.WriteLine(cause.Message);
                System.Environment.Exit(1);
            }

            try {
                entry.Invoke("ChangePassword", OldPassword, NewPassword);
            }
            catch (System.Reflection.TargetInvocationException e)
            {
                System.Console.WriteLine("Password change failed due to:");
                Exception cause = e.InnerException;
                System.Console.WriteLine(cause.Message);
                System.Environment.Exit(1);
            }
            System.Console.WriteLine("Ok.");
        }
    }
}